Judge Jury and Executioner
by DustySoul
Summary: Trails for the Ishbal war criminals are starting to be finalized but a murder makes him self judge jury and executioner. Murder is a more adult theme, but no real gore or swearing


The night was dark and cold despite the full moon. The street was missing several street lights.

Roy stands by a pay phone waiting for his head to stop throbbing. He reflects on the decisions of the night and can't find a single good one. He always knew he couldn't hold his liquor, and drinking on an empty stomach . . .

The phone on the other end begins to ring and he removes his hand from his temples. The throbbing grew worse.

"Hello?" It was Riza, she sounded confused and tried.

"Hello, it's Mustang." He has something else to say but a rather painful plus forces it way.

"What can I do for you?" She says, calm.

"Um, well. Can you come get me? I'm at the cross of Rive Tree and First Street." He says it all very slowly trying to get all the information out. Making sure he didn't leave anything out.

"Yes, can I know why." Riza asks, wondering dismayed what kind of trouble he had gotten himself into.

"Oh yeah, well, I kind of got a little drunk, and um, I don't think I can get home."

There was a long pause. During which Riza curses him silently and finishes reassembling her gun. This wasn't like Mustang.

"Alright I'm coming."

An empty trash can crashes to the ground behind Mustang. He turns finds himself face to face with a tall man with long black hair. The strangers gaze does not move, fixed on Mustangs pasty face, Mustang's black eyes looking into blacker eyes.

Mustang was still stupidly holding the phone, and it occurs to him that this dark man might want to use it. So he clumsily gets out of the booth.

The man smiles, and Mustang notices two of his teeth had been replaced with, one with gold and one with silver.

Mustang wanders off, and stands on the specified corner.

When Riza sees him, both hands are on his temples and he is squeezing them so hard he might leave a bruise.

She rolls down the window and calls to him.

It seems to take a while for him to remember his name. Slowly he looks up, a blank expression on his face.

"Come on!" She called and unlocks the doors.

He gets in slowly, trying not to trip.

There was a long time when neither said anything and when Roy finally felt his head ache subsiding he says, "Thanks you." in a small voice.

"No problem." Says Riza.

Her mind is elsewhere, she is thinking of the serial killer, the one who targeted those who had a prominent reputation in the Isbalen war. She knew she would be a target, but know she was thinking of the Flame Alchemist reputation. No one who had participated in the Humiclace Case had yet been killed. She wondered if that had been enough to save her drunken companion.

She asks, "Did you hear the news?"

"Which news" replies Roy, "The one about the trials?"

Riza's heart drops. She had forgotten they were finally preparing the trial for the war crimes; everything seemed to come back to that.

Still it would take years for the higher ups to take care of the paper work.

"I just heard. . ." He seems to want to say more.

"Yeah, I know what me mean" And she did. It was why he came out here, to feel alive.

There was a long silence and then Riza finally spoke, as if she couldn't bare the lonely nothingness, "You don't have to go and get drunk all by yourself, you can come and talk to me to know."

Mustang smiles and laughs faintly, "I didn't know if you heard, yet, I would have given anything for a few more hours in the dark."

Riza makes a noncomintal noise in her throat and then says, "I don't want to find out about bad news when you calling me needing a lift."

"I wasn't thinking clearly." Says Mustang.

Riza laughs a little harsher than she meant and says, "Clearly."

Then, because they were almost at Mustang's apartment she says, "Have you heard about the serial killer?"

Mustang looks at her quickly, seeming to lose his words, "The one who's targeting war hero or war . . . war. . ." He couldn't seem to find the word.

"War criminals." She suggested.

"Yeah." He seemed to become lost in thought. "I saw an odd guy."

"What?" Riza says, confused.

Mustang shrugs, Riza pulls into the parking space for his apartment, "I don't know but he was tall and pale and had long black hair, and a silver and gold tooth, no one silver one gold tooth, no."

"I get the point." Says Riza a little annoyed now.

"Are you worried about me?" Roy had asked softy.

"Yes" replies Riza flatly.

Thrown off by her sudden and blunt response Mustang waits for her to elaporate.

"You might be a drunk alcoholic who's seeing things." There is a brake in the conversation so Riza says what is really on her mind, "If someone were to try and kill you now I don't think we'd make it."

Mustang tries to wrap his mind around what she had just said, we'd make it. Together.

Then he sat up nearly banging his head on the car ceiling.

"What is it?" asked Riza, concerned.

"I just saw . . . that guy again."

Riza saw him to, and something about the man's pale skin and black hair disturbed her, it wasn't natural. He was standing by the door to the apartment complex.

"I don't think he'll let me in" whispers Mustang.

"Do you think he saw us?" Asks Riza, if he hadn't she might be able to put a few rounds in the offenders skull.

At that moment the stranger looked up, and they both saw his sunken skull like face.

"Lets get out of here." Mustang whispers. He has gone pale.

Riza pulls out of the parking garage, and heads to the only place she can think of going.

Riza's apartment was neat; hardly anything in it. No nicknacks and not one flower vase. Roy couldn't help but smile at the thought. He was lying on the sofa after an argument about who would sleep where. It seemed childish to him. This was Riza's house she should sleep in her own bed.

The only decoration where framed pictures, drawing had Riza created herself. Each picture, Roy guessed, was someone she had killed. He was surprised at the number. Their expressions were neither that of anger, sadness, or joy why just looked blank.

After Riza had retired to her room he had taken one out and found it to be covered with the sentence repeated a hundred times "Never Forget me I will Never Forget you." He is taken with rage at Kimble's words.

Putting the picture back he doses off in to a fit full sleep, waking several times, starting to reject alcohol.

He knew he couldn't hold his liquor.

Riza was a light sleeper and had constantly been awaked by Mustang. She didn't blame him.

Druning a period of peace when Riza thought Mustang must finally be in a deep cycle of sleep the phone rang. Her first thought was of how rude to call so early. Then of Mustang. She pushed herself out of bed and over to the sofa.

She pulled the phone as far away from the side table as possible, which wasn't far, so as not to wake Mustang.

"Riza Hawkeye, may I inquire to who is speaking?" She said softly and politely.

"Yes, I'm a doctor form the Centrals third hospital, Dr. . . ."

"What?" Asked Riza stupidly, Mustang wasn't the only one who had slept badly.

"Yes, sorry Ms. Hawkeye to disturbed you but we . . . we found a victim of the serial killer."

"The one attacking war criminals?" Asked Riza, fully awake now. She was a little suppressed that her sudden outburst hadn't woken Roy. She felt uneasy.

"Yes the same. He attacked five more people to night and you where one of the ICE [In Case of Emergency] listed for one. The last ICE, but we couldn't contact the others."

"I see . . ." Riza felt week. She let out a shaky sigh.

All of the suppressed emotion about the killer, the trails in which she would likely be facing a firing squad and the humunulace seem to magnify inside her.

She knew the Doctor was speaking but couldn't hear the worlds. A cold sweet broke out over her body and she began to shake. Her shock of how unlike her this was made it worse. All the horrible things that had happened, death. She willed herself to redeem her calm demander.

The worlds Killer, he, horrible, discussing, immoral, and identity sunk in. It took a while for her to make sense of them. The doctor had paused and signed.

"Can you repeat that last part, I'm afraid I didn't catch it?"

Oh, yes of course. "Well one of the victims got a good look at the killer so we finally have an identity. . ." he trailed off.

"Go on." Riza's voice was steady, hard as stone.

"Well, he's a tall pale man, with black eyes and one silver and one gold tooth."

Riza crumbled, silently in shock, how close had she and Roy been to death? What would have happened if she hadn't come? How close had it been to being him. Everything, everything the pain of her dads death, the humans she had killed, the bullets she had fired, the humuncluare, how close they had come to destruction, everything. Everything she told herself it ignore and move on from hit her. She wanted to cry, but that was so unlike her. She forced the pain to stay put. It wouldn't do to wake Roy if she screamed. She couldn't break down.

Roy had been woken up by the phone and half listened, he could hear the man on the other side. He had drifted off, and was awoken by a soft exhalation of breath. He didn't know why it had woken him, or if he imagined in.

He shifted his weight to the other side and saw Riza fall.

He sat bolt upright. She had put a hand over her face; the other held the phone that was beeping.

He stood up and walked over to Riza, this was so unlike her was she alright? She didn't respond to her name. He put a hand under each elbow to help her up. She moved as if far away.

He sat her on the sofa and kneeled in front of her. She wasn't crying. Her face was blank as if she was a million miles away. He just kept calling to her, not sure what else to do. When she finally responded he questioned her.

"What wrong?"

. . .

"Riza what the matter."

. . .

"Riza Hawkeye!" His voice was stern but not unkind.

She looked as if she couldn't bring herself to look at him. He put a hand on her chin and cheek and guided her head up and to the right. She still wasn't looking at him, "Hay, hay listen."

Slowly her eyes slide to him, but then they unfocused and grew distant.

"It's okay" he said. He wasn't aware of how tender and quite his voice had become, neither was she.

Riza had looked down at her lap. She shook. Unsure of what else to do Roy wrapped his arms around her and began to whisper softly. "It will be okay please tell me what's wrong."

In his softest kindness voice he said, "Please tell me what's hurting you."

She slowly stopped shaking and relaxed. She explained, and in her shattered state, forgetting the part that made her most upset.

"Was the victim a good friend of yours?" Mustang asks.

"What, no, or I don't think so, the Doctor never told me who, or maybe he did. I don't know." She seemed to be putting herself back together, stepping back from the pain. Roy let her go.

Confused he asks, "Why not? Did it have to do with patent confidentiality?"

Riza thinks for a while and says, "No, the conversation just . . . drifted away."

"Then what's the matter?"

She looked up at him, their faces where barely and inch a part, she looked shocked. She lowers her head, not as drastically as before. "They have a description of the killer." She's embarrassed but Roy can't tell

Once Riza had described him, she waited.

Roy stiffens She stole a glance at his face, his moth had fallen slightly open. He looked scared, and shocked and maybe a little angry.

Riza put her head in her lap again. She feels Roy exhale and relax then his hand rubbing up and down her back she looked up.

Roy's expression was blank when he said, "It wasn't us."

Riza nodded. She looked at him now, held his gaze.

There was a long period of silence and Roy thought of how Riza really had no way to let up her despair, anger, and pain. She just bottled them up and set them on a shelf, but if a shelf where to fall over…

Riza was drifting off, soothed but the rhythm from Roy.  
>"Are you worried about me?" He had asks again, so softly she could have choice not to notice or to be a sleep. He had stopped stroking her.<p>

She opened her eyes and started, "No? What? Why? You?" She looked away, her cheeks burning. She felt confused, sad, scared, and a little betrayed. The silence seemed to drive her crazy.

Just at the point when she felt she had to yell or do something Roy wrapped his arms around her, held her close. "I love you"

She started to cry. Mentally she kicked her self. Stupid!

She hugged him back. She sudden comfort and easy had been too much. Roy rocked her, gently back and forth.

"I love you too." She whispered.


End file.
